Street justice or erosion of faith in the Govt Police crackdown on students
- Sangai Express Editorial :: October 28 , 2013 -

The idea of street justice seems to be catching on fast.

A reflection of the erosion of faith in the Government that justice would be delivered, or the coming to the fore of a collective human trait, that justice can and should be delivered, sans the Government institutions ?

A case of institutional breakdown ?

Mob justice or Mobocracy, Manipur has seen and experienced this on more than one occasion and this is anathema to the very understanding of democracy.

Mobs going on the rampage and burning down houses and properties of accused or suspects of any crime, the latest being the Satyabhama case, have become the hallmark or characteristics of the great Manipuri society.

There can be no one single factor for such a trend catching on, but is an offshoot of numerous factors. A point which the Government and the public at large should seriously deliberate upon.

It was not exactly a mob, by any stretch of the imagination, but so many things can be read into the police crackdown at Cheirap Court on October 26, when two accused in the rape of a student of TG Higher Secondary School were produced before the Court.

Students gathering outside the precinct of the Court, raising slogans, demanding justice does not exactly go against the right to express one’s stand.

This is true, as witnessed in all the democracies in the world.

Then why did the police resort to a lathi charge and in the process inflicted injuries on some of the students, that too all girls ?

Did the students cross the rubicon of peaceful protests and turned into a mob that it necessitated the police to swing into action ?

Or did the police fail to grasp the situation and went overboard so that the Court’s proceedings could go on without interruptions ?

The All Manipur Students’ Union has not only condemned the police crackdown but has also raised a pertinent question on whether the Government was encouraging crimes against women and protecting the perpetrators of such crimes.

Obviously a student body cannot have the last say, but it would not hurt the police to thoroughly study the incident and see whether the crackdown was necessary or not.

This is not only about a particular incident but about a trend which seems to have caught the fancy of almost every section of society.

Pitted against this is the abysmal failure of the police to understand the situation and deal with it accordingly.

The mob violence that followed after the details of the murder of Satyabhama were spelt out comes to mind.

Even as the then DGP went on air to give a detailed account of how the case was cracked, mobs had started gathering.

The media had anticipated such a reaction and reporters were fanned out at places where the mobs were likely to set their targets.

The police on the other hand was totally caught off guard and the resultant mayhem, with the houses of the accused burnt to cinders stands as mute testimony to one of the biggest failures of the police to read and study the situation.

What happened at Cheirap Court on October 26 was not in any way related to the Satyabhama case, but a similar vein runs through, which would not have missed the eyes of the keen observers.

It was a group of students demanding justice for the rape of one of their colleagues.

That students felt compelled to gather and raise slogans outside the Court premises to demand justice, says a lot. It is this which the Government should study.

Why have people’s faith in the Government eroded to such an extent ?

The CSOs and others too need to study whether such a trend picking up speed is healthy for democracy or not.

Not an easy task definitely, but a beginning has to be made somewhere and the sooner the beginning is made, the better it would be for all.